What you have is a nasty confluence of events that conspire against what we all would think is "reasonable". Some of you aren't going to like the answers.
Costs:
Let's go ahead and beat the liability thing to death up front, and all the nasty stuff that goes with it. But let's not just blame the end manufacturer. Every item that goes into the end product, in this case the airplane, has a "liability tax" attached to it if it's stamped "aviation". So those nuts and bolts that go into that magneto all have a %30-40 tax on them. That completed magneto has a %30-40 tax over and above for the completed unit. That Lycoming, which as two magnetos, has a %30-40 tax on it. And finally, that airframe, which has the engine, which has the mags, which has the nuts and bolts, has a final %30-%40 tax on it.
It isn't additive. It's compounding at each stage of the assembly, and there's thousands of parts. By the time you get to the end of the supply chain, this cost has eaten up practically all of any potential income stream.
Folks tell me after 9/11, business paranoia went into orbit, and insurance rates with them. EVERYONE is risk adverse these days, and the prices reflect that.
Next, let's look at your common leaseback: Back in they day, the FBO was "full service". They did MX, fuel, rentals, instruction, sold parts, sold planes and heck, probably did field overhauls right there. Joe Bag-o-Donuts bought a 172 to lease back. Since the FBO was a dealer, the buyer probably got a bit of a break. Owner then put the 172 on the rental line. The FBO, working with the owner, probably supplied fuel and MX at slightly over wholesale rates, and maybe even carried the plane on their policy. The owner probably got a nice tax break. The school had a steady stream of students plus some more from the GI Bill.
These days, the FBO business is VERY narrow. Anything with risk in it is outsourced. Maintenance are all contractors. Rental and flight school, if there is one, also done by third parties. That means that leaseback has gone from a loss leader to sell airplanes, to a profit center. That means that owner is now getting nicked FULL retail prices (and those prices are high) for each step. The operator (in this case a rental outfit/school) is taking their cut, and the FBO is also taking their share to the tune of margins.
Airports: Take a look at Paul Freeman's site. Look around every major metro area. See how many "3rd and 4th tier" airports have disappeared (my own scale: 1st tier = large airline/corporate fields, 2nd tier = smaller metro/corporate / GA fields with a tower, 3rd tier = busier uncontrolled fields that are smaller corporate/GA and 4th tier = small GA fields). Around every metro area, there were often a dozen or so small fields where someone could park their airplane for pennies. Local MX was inexpensive, and so was the fuel. That's important, but also important was the field was probably a short drive, encouraging people to go, hang out, fly.
With the inexorable growth of the population, those fields, even larger going concerns ones like Zahn's in NYC (look it up), were swallowed and closed. That forced those that could to more expensive locals, which got more even more expensive because of the demand. Plenty of others dropped out because of the higher expense and/or the new hassle of driving to a field that's further away.
Some costs have come down. Look at some old issues of Flying from the 50s and 60s (available on Google Books). Plug those numbers into the ole CPI calculator, and you'd be surprised what that KX170 costs in 2019 dollars.
Resources:
People honestly have fewer resources these days, the primary one of which is time. Wages have been stagnant for close to two decades now, and costs that were once borne by the employer are now on the worker, namely retirement and insurance. People are FORCED to participate in the lottery that is the stock market because interest rates have been near zero for close to 10 years now (unprecedented in history by the way...that low mortgage comes with a nasty price). Companies have managed to manipulate people into thinking $19k a year in a 401k will come anywhere near funding a retirement. People now pay outrageous amounts for insurance and college for their kids, which used to be quite affordable on the local level (easy money for student loans is the culprit there, but that's a story for another time). To be fair, some of the spending these days is highly discretionary...the expense for cable TV, cell phones, "travel sports" and other toys would have been unthinkable in the 60s and 70s, but people these days are practically shammed into doing it at every step ("what? You don't have little Jimmie in that travel soccer club? You're a bad parent! It's only $4000 a year!").
So, now it comes down to time. Your everyday average John and Jane have zero time. Ridiculous pushes for "productivity" means most people are "on" all the time from their employer. Email and cell phones mean they're expected to be available, and if not, they get dinged by some automaton HR person on their performance review. Any time they DO have is precious, and will be spent with their family, and not driving an hour and a half to spend half a day with an airplane, which isn't that family friendly. People are working like fiends, constantly worrying about retirement, insurance and putting their kids through college. Even if there were aircraft available at a CPI indexed cost from 1960, there'd still be light demand because no one has time to be futzing at the airport these days. There are far more family friendly activities that cost far less.
Society changed around the aviator. Much of for the worse, and is reflective of society today. High cost, risk adverse, soak the little guy for as much as possible. Grab yours while you can, because someone will do the same to you.
